Middle of Atlantic 1909

Curator: Gazing at John Marin's "Middle of Atlantic" from 1909, I feel a sense of exhilaration and a slight disquiet, actually. The quick strokes...it's as if he captured the ocean's raw energy and compressed it right there onto the page. Editor: Absolutely. I immediately zoom in on the rapid application of watercolor wash, observe the rough paper. You know, thinking about Marin aboard a ship—the labor of travel, the supplies he needed, the very economy of oceanic crossings at the time—it situates this almost visceral depiction of the ocean. The means of artistic production meets the vastness of the subject, right? Curator: That's it! The almost chaotic strokes mimic the turbulence of the waves. He uses a minimal palette but conveys so much movement. The deck structures— are we seeing glimpses of the ship he's traveling on? He reduces the ocean to simple shapes, the ship to these structural elements... Editor: Exactly, the painting foregrounds these transient elements. We have the artist and the crew. What would that division of labor been like, making an artwork amid such controlled chaos? There's even a nod to a tradition here with Marin. One has to wonder, too, about his relationship to those tools and materials? Was his paper French? I'm always wondering who manufactured this. Curator: Maybe? Regardless, he really takes us into his experience; you feel the boat swaying and creaking in sympathy. But isn't there something quintessentially American in his modernism too? It’s as though the watercolor medium becomes less important than the energy being created. Editor: Yes! It challenges that classical art tradition by capturing this ephemeral state and presenting that moment to us, almost demanding that we acknowledge the work needed to capture such images, and how consumerism impacts his supplies, his travel, and even access to ocean views. Curator: To be honest, it reminds me that, at any moment, even amidst what feels like great solidity, we are ultimately at the mercy of something much greater. It’s quite humbling. Editor: And when looking at pieces such as these, hopefully more visitors like myself question everything a little bit harder as we come and observe the pieces, the travel, the resources, and ultimately who produced this, down to the last bolt, per say.